


Some times your family sucks balls, so I"ll be your family

by JadeElite



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Beating, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Murder, Reader-Insert, Revenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-18 00:06:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13670145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeElite/pseuds/JadeElite
Summary: Still archiving old fics. This one is probably the most potentially triggering one that I wrote during the era. This was part of an art trade, the content was requested, and I complied by writing what is probably one of the most beautiful pieces I have ever created (if one finds beauty in this sort of thing) To this day I'm still kind of proud of this one





	Some times your family sucks balls, so I"ll be your family

You are, rather against your will, at a family reunion of sorts. Your father’s siblings and their kids are visiting from the other side of the country, and your father made it clear that if you didn’t show up he’d be ‘disappointed’ in you. Which translated to he was going to tell the entire family, both sides, including the family members you like, that you’re an ungrateful bitch of a daughter and have to endure a few years of scorn for the incident. They had rented out half of their favorite restaurant for the meeting, and you were sitting, making small talk with a few of your cousins. You glance around nervously on occasion, if ‘he’ shows up then you’re bailing. Your phone sits on your leg, a text primed to notify your ‘getaway driver’ you had been surprised he agreed to help so easily.

“HEEEY sorry I’m late, traffic man, how do you guys get anywhere out here?” The voice sends chills up your spine, you really thought he might not show. Your aunt said he had some business to take care of, and might not finish it in time for the lunch. You knock your phone out of your lap your hands are shaking so badly. Keeping your head down while you pick it up, you pray he doesn’t notice you.

“Jeez Uncle Lar, you’re so loud you scared…” Your cousin is cut off by a pointed glare from you. Grabbing the phone you send the emergency text. You thought maybe you could handle it, but no, you can’t be in the same room as him it’s just, too much.

“There’s my favorite niece,” His disturbingly jovial voice is right behind you, you squeak when he claps a hand on your shoulder. “Aaaah I didn’t mean to scare you, but man you still are cute when you make noises like that. Just like when the fireworks went off when you were little and you were so scared you….” Every muscle in your body is tight, defensive, terrified. He stops talking as somebody entering the restaurant calls your name. The wild, light blue hair is a sight that is a relief, his somewhat gravelly voice helps ease the tension in your chest. For a moment you recall how the conversation went, to get him to be your knight in shining lab coat for once.  
-  
“If you don’t want to go urp don’t go.” Rick was focused on his latest ‘project’ something he was going to be selling, you were helping. “Like really why do you need me to come in and save your ass when you could just not go?”

“Listen, I actually try to get along with… most… of my family.” You scowled, bent over a blueprint. “Unlike some people I try to not piss them off but… I need an out if things go sour.”

“Why the urp hell would it go sour it’s just family, what’s the worst that can happen? They’ll ask you why you aren’t married with seven kids yet?” He smirked, leaned over and smacked your ass. “Afraid they’ll find out it’s because you’re urp you’re pussy is dedicated to this old coot rather than to some upstanding gentleman that urp that loves you.”

“Honestly Rick… I wish I wish that could be my biggest worry.” You swatted his hand away. There wasn’t exactly any kind of love in your relationship, maybe you felt something for him, but for him you knew you were just a good research assistant and a better lay. “Listen if you don’t want to do it, I’ll live. I…”

He sighed, and cut you off. “Fucking fine I’ll do it, geez you don’t have to get all whiney about it. Just urp, send me a text and I’ll come in and give your family some kind of excuse to get you, to get you out of there.”  
-  
What Rick saw when he entered made his gut twist and anger build behind his eyes. He saw a creepy fuck with his hands on his girl, and she was not liking it. It was just a hand on the shoulder but he could see how the touch made her cringe. He heard what the creep said, the tone of his voice sounds fine at first but if one listens closely, like Rick was, there is a slimy nature to the jovialness, some kind of tainted lust. He didn’t know this man, didn’t know what he had done to the girl, but he knew something was wrong. He shook the anger out of his head, it was unreasonable. Why on earth should he feel angry about this, he had agreed to get her out of the situation because he figured she’d be very, appreciative, later, not because he cared about her well-being. Right?  
-  
“Oh hey Rick, what are you doing here…?” Your voice is shaking, you try to play off as innocent.

“Mr.Sanchez.” Your father looks up, as far as he knows Rick is just your boss. “This is a private family event I don’t…”

“Listen I need to borrow your daughter.” He comes over, you see him eyeing your uncle, he’s doing his polite smile but you can see the corners of his mouth are strained. “The bolete drive isn’t functioning and the customer is going to be picking up the product tonight, I should have listened to you about the arrangement of the quartz, I need you to get it put together properly. I can’t afford to have this customer pissed at me, let’s go.” You can hear him straining to not speak in a normal voice, holding down his burps and stuff.

“Oh I understand.” You start standing up. “Is the….”

“Sit down!” Your father’s voice is commanding, you flinch. He’s at a completely different table but his commanding presence, he might has well me taking you by the shoulders and shoving you back into your seat. Trembling you look at your uncle, you can’t be in the same room as him, you can’t you’d rather… “This is the first time Lar and Samuel have been here in years, you aren’t going to ruin this reunion with your selfishness.” Your father was always big on things going his way, and if you tried to break away from that you were selfish.

“Whoa hey chill.” Rick glances at your father, he didn’t like the man, not one bit. He had met him on occasion, tried to drop in for a surprise ‘visit’ only to find your parents were over. The guy was uptight and though he should be running the world. But for now Rick’s attention returns to your uncle, he’s the real danger here, your father would never hurt you, but clearly this man has done something. “Well then…listen I brought the stuff with me anyways, how about I sit down and you help fix it but without leaving, it won’t take up much space it’s just a simple panel that need rearranged. I urp…..I uh, would love to get to know your family anyways you talk about them so much.” Rick’s smile is fairly gentlemanly. Also he’s lying out of his ass, you don’t talk about your family with him.

Your father starts to protest. “I don’t think…”

“I certainly don’t have a problem with that, the kid hates talking about her job and projects I would love to see her in action.” You uncle laughs, interrupting, and sits across from you at the table. “I mean when you were little you’d have all those chemistry sets and microscopes and you wouldn’t work on anything until we left the room, you’ve always been so private about the stuff.”

Rick’s hand brushes against your back, an almost comforting gesture, and sits in the open chair beside you, clearing away some of the silverware and salt shakers and stuff. He’s making room, but you notice he’s also putting them between you and your uncle, like he’s building some kind of symbolic wall. You watch him unload some screwdrivers and the offending panel from his lab coat. 

The remainder of the afternoon is spent with you conversing with your family while pretending to rearrange quartz crystals on the panel. For the most part it goes well, much of your family is interested in what you are doing, asking questions. You only stop to eat, while you do Rick takes over ‘fixing’ the panel for a while, he doesn’t eat anything himself, just orders a beer when the waitress chastises him about outside drinks, nearly confiscating his flask. When Uncle Lar asks questions though, when you hear his voice your throat seizes up, but Rick, well fuck, Rick steps in, answers it, saves you from having to address him for the entire time. What is he doing, you wonder a minute.

Finally the time to leave comes, people are putting on their coats and hugging and saying they’ll see them tomorrow for other plans that were made. Rick is busy putting away his screwdrivers and the panel while rolling his eyes, not paying attention to you. You hug your aunts and cousins and then just as you’re trying to slip away.

“Hey kiddo I think you forgot someone!” Your uncle grabs your arm, pulls you in for a bear hug, pressing your face to his chest. The smell of him makes your stomach churn, your eyes are watering and so many memories are pulsing through you head. You’re arms hang loosely, but your father makes a noise that commands you like a trained dog to reciprocate the hug. Everything in you screams no as you wrap your arms around him and hug back, shaking like a leaf.

Suddenly your arm is grabbed, pulling you back and away. “Fuck this shit I’m getting you out of here.” Rick’s voice is dark, he’s done being polite. You hear the familiar noise of a portal opening, and all you see is green light. And when the green is gone everything is teal, arms are wrapped around you but they are good arms, no matter how much of a shithole this guy can be, they’re better than those other ones. He’s holding you, something he just, doesn’t do, one hand pressed to the back of your head, the other gripping the back of your shirt, shaking. Shaking angrily you think?

You try to pull away. “I’m fine Rick, don’t worry I’m not going to get all…get all emotionally wishy washy on you.” You grit your teeth, try to stop the tears that are still collecting in your eyes. “I know you hate that.”

He doesn’t say anything, but he doesn’t let go. But you aren’t really trying to pull away, you don’t want him to let go. You need him to hold you, because you know that, despite all the shitty kinds of person he is, he’s never going to hurt you, unless you ask him to that is. 

“Come on let’s…let’s go get the product put together.” The hard lump in your throat is making it hard to talk normally. “Don’t want to…don’t want to miss the delivery.”

He’s still so quiet, and you feel heat radiating off him, his heart beating so… so angrily. You aren’t even looking at him, everything is still teal, but you can feel the anger.

“Come on what’s going…what’s going on with you?” You’re eyes are burning from trying to stop the tears. “I said I’m fi….I’m fi….I’m…” And then you just…can’t…anymore.

He holds you as you crumple in his arms, tears streaming down your cheeks. All those memories, all the hurt and and just what was done to you burns in your memories. You remember the sleepovers with your cousins, your parents were always gone on business so you stayed with some other house for almost half your life. And when it was Lar’s turn to take care of you for some week, in that house big enough to give you your own room (it was the guest room but they let you keep toys there so you didn’t have to keep bringing them back and forth), your mother always joked about how the walls were so thick in that house that somebody could be murdered and people in the next room over would never know. Nobody heard you scream the first time he came into your room, nobody heard you crying after the hundreds of times after that. And he told you, whispered in your ears when he was finally done…that nobody would believe you. You knew that was true, felt it was because nobody gave a damn about you. Nobody cared when your appendix ruptured when you were 7, you were in the hospital alone except when your aunt bothered to come in a sign papers. When your cousin snapped your arm because he was a drunk 15 year old and you were crying while he while he was babysitting, there wasn’t a single person who believed you, they called you a liar, said you were horsing around and you can’t go blaming others for your stupid mistakes. So you never breathed a word, no matter how many times it happened.

But now, you were sobbing, for the first time in god knows how long. Rick holds you in his arms, supporting you, listening to you whimper. You’re whimpering words, telling him all of this. He’s stroking your hair, but his other hand is gripping the back of your shirt so tight he’s going to rip the fabric. For some reason, you tell him, this man who doesn’t love you, who has never shown any indication that he would give a damn, everything that you had held onto for so long. 

“Dad what’s going on in here is everything alright?” You can hear Beth’s voice and the sound of the door to the house opening. By this point you’re clinging to Rick’s shirt like a life raft.

“Sweetie I need you to take care of her for a little while…” There’s something sinister in voice, but he’s trying to hide it for your benefit. You’re being moved, feet dragged across the floor, and you whimper as his arms leave you. “I have something…I need to do.” 

“Dad you can’t just hand me your crying girlfriend and have me take care of it I…” Beth knows about the nature of your relationship with Rick, she doesn’t mind really, her dad is happy, and she gets a drinking buddy, win-win?

“Beth…I am going to take care of it… in the only way I know how…” Rick gently maneuvers you into his daughter’s arms. You see him looking at you, his expression a mixture of the purest rage and the purest pain, as he pulls away you grab his arm, you need him. “I’ll be back, I promise.” He considers something for a moment, and takes his lab coat off. When he leans close to drape it over your shoulder he whispers in your ear. “I’m going to make everything better I promise.” You watch him step back, and cling with one hand to Beth, and the other his warm coat. He opens and through a portal, you’re still sniveling and barely able to stand. 

“I…” Beth holds you up, sees the suffering on your face. “Let’s get you some wine…”

You cough, shaking, try to stand up, but she lets you lean on her instead. “Can I…can I have some fucking vodka…?”

“Yeah, that sounds good too.”  
-  
Rick had a plan. Rick stood over the twitching sack in the dimly lit room. Rick considered how best to execute that plan. Rick was sober.

He knew she might tell him not to do it, she never had the stomach for this kind of thing. But he needed to give her this option, give her the chance to make it better. Why, he wasn’t sure. No he didn’t usually care for the emotional wishy-washy. On occasion he had encountered her crying about some shit or other and just turned and walked out. But as they became….closer… he started feeling just a twinge of regret in his heart when he left her crying alone. He never asked what it was about, he knew it wasn’t something bad, she wasn’t exactly quick to cry but she was emotional. Part of him, just a small part deep in that black heart of his, was praying, that he had never walked away while she was remembering what the creep in the sack did to her. 

There was so much anger, because this man had hurt her, in so many, so many wrong wrong fucking ways. He curled his fist, maybe, just maybe he actually cared about her because, there was no way he’d be doing this if he didn’t. Yeah he generally hates pedophiles and rapists and such, and if he can dick one over he’ll take the chance, but only once has he actively sought to punish one. That god damn jellybean had what was coming to him, and so does this fucker. But this time, Rick was going to take his time, the punishment was going to be slow, torturous. She might tell him to stop, and if she does he will, because she doesn’t need another scar on her pretty little heart.

Rick needs to beat the shit out of the guy just a little bit though, so he’s going to do that, because if she says no he needs to have gotten the rage expressed just a little bit. So he pulled the sack down, revealing the balding head and sweaty face of his… his… his girlfriend’s… fucking rapist uncle. He blinked as the only light source shone above his head and straight into his eyes. He tried to scream through the gag, and then there was a moment of recognition on his face as he saw his captor for the first time. He went silent for a moment, trying to understand what happened. Rick’s arm snaps back, and before her uncle can scream into the gag again he brings his arm around with full force, his fist connecting with the captured’s jaw with a satisfying crack.

“Oh don’t you go passing out on my boy.” He murmured darkly in the man’s ear as his head lulls to the side, knocked out by the single punch. Rick smiled to see the broken vessels under the skin flood red, and the clear indication of a broken jaw. He slapped the man until he was conscious again. “There’s a lot fucking more where that came from.” He waited just long enough for the fucker to have some semblance of awareness again, before delivering another powerful blow, this one to his eye, with a perfect measure of strength to assure he wouldn’t pass out again. 

He was crying through the gag, probably begging. Rick sneers at him, for a moment, he thinks back to her, crying in his arms. He thinks of her telling him everything, it made his chest hurt, to hear how she… 

“You’re crying like a baby, like a fucking baby.” Rick jerked his knee, it connected with the fucker’s gut. “You left her crying, crying so many times…YOU WERE HER FUCKING FAMILY AND YOU RAPED HER AND LEFT HER CRYING EVERY TIME HER MENTALLY DEFECTIVE PARENTS LEFT HER IN YOUR CARE.” The man’s eyes went wide, he knew why he’s here. “Everything that is going to happen to you…you fucking deserve all of it.”

The next punch breaks the skin, knocks him flat unconscious and Rick’s hand comes away bloody. He stood, spat on the bound, unconscious man, and retrieved his portal gun from a table nearby, a table covered in rather unsavory things. He hoped he won’t get to use them, he’d rather do this all with his own fists, but she might need more. The flash of green barely illuminates the rest of the room, there’s nothing, not even a door. No way in, no way out, the perfect torture room. He stepped through the portal.  
-  
You are drunk, very drunk. Before you took the first sip you considered that this might be a bad way of managing your issues. You’re going to end up like Rick, was one of the first thoughts that came to mind. After a few drinks you stopped caring, and you suddenly understood why he drank, the numbness makes things just a little more tolerable. Once you were well past the point of tipsy you stopped blubbering to Beth, but by that point the damage was done. Jerry had walked by at one point, scoffed at you and said something to Beth. She turned on him like a fucking cobra, and as is how you’ve come to see their relationship work, he skulked off with his tail between his legs muttering about not deserving the shit he gets. She knows now too, once it had started coming out, it just didn’t stop until the alcohol had creeped into your brain and made the pain bearable.

You’re sitting on their living room couch, staring glassy eyed at the ceiling. She’s sitting, sipping wine, you suppose she’s gauging if you’re going to be okay. You’ve never been this drunk, and you’ve never felt this way when you’re drunk. Normally you drink when you’re happy to get happier and it works. But there is no happiness, you can’t remember, the memories have stopped pushing at the back of your eyes, so even if you’re numb as hell at least, well at fucking least you aren’t in pain. You aren’t in pain right? You’re gaze drifts to the green portal that manifests in the room, everything is a little blurry, you don’t mind. Did he get some of his alternate selves there’s fucking 3… no 4… no…you’re just getting like triple vision.

“Dad where did you… is that blood?” You’re eyes dart over to Beth, and you press your eyes close in regret. “…Please tell me it’s that creeps blood.” You’re eyes snap open again, you have the perfect view of her face, god she’s just like her father isn’t she? That is really weird to think about, luckily you’re too drunk to think too hard on it.

“Jesus Christ Beth how much did you give her to drink?” You can smell Rick hovering over you, so you turn your head slowly to him, there’s only one now. One of his hands goes to your cheek, strokes away the tears that are still falling with his thumb. Fuck you really thought you stopped crying.

“As much as she needed. Dad she…her uncle…”

“I know, and I’m taking care of it.” There’s something wrong with him, you can’t put your finger on it. He gently presses his lips to yours, but you just, sit there, you can’t acknowledge the kiss because there’s nothing left in you that cares enough to right now. But you have enough mental capacity left to realize, you taste sobriety on his lips. You see him frown. “Christ… come on snap out of it I have a present for you.” 

“Unless it’s my uncle’s head on a silver platter, I don’t give two flying fucks.” You manage to say steadily and surely, at least you think you do. In actuality it’s almost not understandable. 

“Ooooh it’s so much better than that darling.” Suddenly you’re in the air, floating, you think. No wait he’s holding you, fucking carrying you. Everything is teal and green and spinney. You clutch desperately to his shirt. When things finally clear just a bit in your head, he’s still holding you, you manage to make a note to yourself to remember this, god this kind of strength could be…useful…in bed… cause positions…

When he sets you down again you lean on him, look around the room, it’s so dark you can barely see anything. “What is this place…?” You hear a muffled yelling, turn your head slightly to the only light source and see beneath it a pathetic pile of a human being. “Oh yes, this…this is so much fucking better.” You start to stalk towards to the pile and wobble, Rick takes your arm gently, helping you stand but allowing you to maintain dignity.

The bastard’s eye is swollen shut, and blood is drying on his chin where it had been dripping down from his lips beneath the gag. Standing over him, looking down on this disgusting creature, you feel no fear anymore. You can remember what he did to you, but the alcohol keeps the pain at bay. Without any hesitation you swing back your leg, and then bring to forward, crashing into his ribs with all the force you can muster. The sound of him trying to scream makes you smile. You can hear the bone cracking, it makes your heart race.

You take a step back, that felt good but you think you know a better way to ease your suffering. “I want to watch you destroy him…” You tilt your head enough to look at Rick. There might be some form of satisfaction in inflicting the pain on your uncle yourself, but you think that, maybe, watching somebody you care about do it for you might help more in the long run. If you can see Rick do this, know why he’s doing it, you’ll know that there’s somebody in this fucked up world that gives a damn about you. The smile on his face sends shivers up your spine, makes you tingle. 

“I was really hoping you’d say that.” He guides you to the side, to a chair sitting close enough you’ll be able to hear every sound. Before you are sat he presses his lips against yours again, and you kiss back this time.

“Make. Him. Suffer.” You sit in the chair, lean back with folded arms, and watch. You consider something for a moment… “And un-gag him… I want to listen to him scream.” You watch Rick pull the gag out of your uncle’s mouth and toss it aside. 

“You… you can’t…I…please don’t do this…” He immediately begins blubbering. “I’m sorry I’m so so sorry please don’t do this.” His words are strained, barely understandable with his jaw in the state it’s in.

“I begged.” You whisper. Ricks fist comes around and knocks the side of his head, the sound is pleasing. “I begged every time.” You smirk as Rick kicks him in the same spot you did, but with more force. Crack. “Why should your begging matter uncle… mine never did.” Rick grabs him by the collar to hold him up as his knuckles connect with the man’s face over and over again, eventually coming away bloody. There is no smile on his face, only anger, sweet sweet anger. 

“Please I… I’ll do anything just…” Lar can barely speak through his busted front teeth. “I’ll disappear you won’t have to hear from me…me ever again!”

“Oh but then you’ll never get the justice you deserve asshat.” Rick spits in his face, uppercuts him in the cut repeatedly, each punch bringing a groan of pain from your uncle. He starts coughing, you see Rick turn and wipe the spray of blood from his face with his sleeve.

“This is what you deserve Lar, this has been a long time coming.” You cross one leg over the other, relax into the chair. This is what you’ve wanted for so long, to finally be in the place of power.

“Want me to do anything special babe? Before I kill him that is.” Rick looks back at you with a smirk, his eyes dark and on fire at the same time.

You contemplate for just a moment. “Before he dies… I want him to remember everything my family has done to hurt me…” You sneer. “Because Lar do you really think I had forgotten how you helped them.” Rick nods, turns back to the whimpering man.

“You mean like when he wouldn’t let you go to the hospital when you were on the floor crying in pain.” His fist begins a rapid barrage of powerful punches to your uncle’s abdomen. Soon he is coughing up more blood, it covers Rick but he doesn’t stop. “You told her parents she was trying to get attention.” He drops his hold on Lar’s collar, stands and begins kicking the man’s gut over and over. Lar’s screams pierce the air, cut off with each blow by a sharp intake of air and a groan. “She’d be dead if you hadn’t left the window open so the neighbors could hear and call the cops. Fucking appendix.” He stops, apprises him, you watch the blood dripping from your uncle’s disgusting mouth.

“At least it wasn’t your fault nobody came to visit me, no that was just because nobody cares.” Your voice is sickly fake sweet, but quickly turns to a hiss. “Thaaank god the nurse who was going to report the signs of what you were doing to me got fired. What a coincidence that as she was writing her report they found crack in her purse.” 

Rick bends over silently, pulling something from his back pocket. With a swift motion he cuts the ropes binding your uncle’s hands together and tosses the pocket knife aside. He grabs the man’s arm, plants a foot firmly on his chest, and stretches the arm upwards, pulling it. What a gentleman, he does it in such a way that he assures that you get a perfect view. “What did you tell her parents when your son broke my darling’s arm?” He stares at the arm, you can see him thinking. 

Your uncle whimpers, coughs, then tries to speak. “I… I told them she had been running in the house…a...again… and she tripped…”

“You know what I remember most clearly about that…” You rub the arm that had been snapped like a pathetic twig. “You telling my parents what a little liar I was… telling them that I had a habit of making things up but you hadn’t been telling them.” You grit your teeth. Your entire family, save a few who were never around enough to notice, they were all a part of it, all had a hand in letting what happened to you happen, even if they never knew it happened. “You were grooming me… in a way, you were showing me that I could never get mom or dad or anybody to listen to me.”

“Please don…” He doesn’t get to finish begging. The crack is loud, fills the room, it’s satisfying, pleasant…pleasurable. Rick holds the arm so that you can see the odd angle it’s bent at now, looking for your approval. You nod, smiling, he grins, then turns his head back to the pathetically screaming man.

“Finish him off…” You mummer, resting your elbow on your chair’s armrest and cradling your chin with your knuckles.

“You… you’re a fucking monster.” The bastard spits in your direction, as he tries to scoot away from Rick. He bends over again, grabs Lar by that whisping tuft that is all that’s left of his hair pulling him upwards slightly, and glances at you once more.

“It runs in the family.”

The sound of his face hitting the ground is so good. You watch Rick slam the fucker’s face into the ground over and over and over. He doesn’t flinch at the blood that splatters and covers him. While your uncle is still groaning, he turns his over, dropping him on the floor. The beating that ensues makes your heart race, you bite your lip, watching Rick deliver blow after blow. Each punch his hand comes away bloodier. And the noises, oh the noises. It’s not like in movies, it’s so much more visceral, so wet. Each slam is muffed wet. 

Rick doesn’t stop until long after Lar has stopped moving, long after he’s dead and finally fucking gone. You don’t mind, it makes you excited, you’ve never felt this god damn fucking excited. He stands, turns to face you, his hands, his entire front side, covered in blood, so dark. It’s a beautiful shade of red. You stand, more steadily than before, you’re starting to sober up, don’t know how long you’ve been here. He watches you walk towards him, the anger is gone from his eyes, there’s only bloodlust now. When you wrap your arms around him you can see the smile on his face, a mixture of pride and dark passion. But when you trying to kiss him, getting on your toes to reach, he stops you.

“No… later…” Looking at his hands he frowns suddenly. “I… I don’t want you to turn into me…”

You pull away, a little disappointed but… you also agree… “Then…can I go home…” You look at the body on the floor. “I’m tired…”

He just nods, wraps an arm around your waist and reaches for his portal gun. But when you step through the green swirl it’s not your home that you’re standing in. You look out at the rising sun through the Smith’s living room window. You start to protest, but it takes you a minute to find the words.

“Dad! What happened you two were gone all night and…that is a lot of blood…” Beth comes into the room from the kitchen, you suppose she must have been making breakfast. 

“There’s a good chance her parents are skulking around her place after the…outburst I had at their reunion…” He gently shoves you towards Beth, again. “Let her use the shower, she can crash in my room, I have to go dispose of a corpse.”

“Rick I…thank you…” It feels weird… thanking him for what he did.

“It’s… it’s no problem kid, now go get yourself cleaned up and catch a few fucking z’s you’re a mess.” Before you can say anything else he’s through the portal again.  
-  
The creaking door wakes you from you sleep with a sense of panic. You grip the edges of the cot in fear, absolutely terrified, until you remember…the one you’ve always been so scared of coming into your room…is never going to come in your room again. You’ve slept with your bedroom door locked for so long because you couldn’t sleep otherwise. Just the wind blowing it open would wake you and scare you. 

“Shh shh, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Rick gently shuts the door behind him, it’s too dark to see. 

“I… I thought you were him… but he’s dead so…”

“I used to get so pissed at you when you freaked out when I snuck in for a surprise booty call while you were sleeping but… I get it now.” He sits on the edge of the cot with a sigh, and a slight groan. One of his hands finds yours, long fingers intertwining. They’re dry and clean. 

“Why did you do it…? Kill a man for me…” You whisper. You know why, you want to hear him say it.  
“Because he was a creepy scumbag and the world is better off without him.” He snorts a laugh.

“No, you don’t just go around killing people without it benefiting you, not unless it’s for a person you…” You pause, lie back down. “I want to hear you say it, I already know, I want to hear it from you lips.”

He’s silent for so long, hoping you’ll fall asleep before he’s forced to answer, but you squeeze his hand. “Because… I care… about you…” Good enough. He hangs his head, you listen to him breathing. “You going to be okay…?” He asks quietly after a while.

“Rick… I’m… I’m never going to be okay… not after what he did to me, not after what my family did to me…” You brush your thumb across rough callouses on his hand, you can feel the bruises on his knuckles the skin is more tender, and scabs where the skin broke open. “But… I think I can start being able to manage… I’ll be able to feel better.”

“Listen…sometimes families suck absolute balls.” Rick lifts your hand, bends down and gently kisses it. “So from now on, I’m your family. You don’t have to deal with those fucking bastards anymore alright?”

“I like the sound of that.”


End file.
